Kobold Press announced their own tabletop system Project Black Flag last week soon after licensing drama from Dungeons and Dragons.

The company is largely known as a publisher of third party rules and adventures that can be adapted to vanilla Dungeons and Dragons.

The leaked D&D Open Game License could have affected their business model, and so Kobold Press took the opportunity to announce their own proprietary tabletop game.

Project Black Flag is more than just a proof of concept, and in their recent FAQ Kobold Press explained that players can playtest the game as soon as Gencon 2023. You can read more details below.

The company is also taking a page from Pathfinder creator Paizo and Kobold Press will be among the first companies to adopt Paizo’s new “Open RPG Creative License” or ORC for short.

You can read more details below.

What exactly is Kobold Press’ Project Black Flag?

Project Black Flag is the code name for an upcoming Kobold Press new core fantasy RPG system, available to any publisher or creator who accepts the terms of the soon-to-be-released Open RPG Creative License (ORC). This new open, perpetual, and irrevocable Open RPG Creative License (ORC) was announced on January 12, 2023, and will be shared with the community soon.

Kobold Press expects to support both print and digital formats for Project Black Flag’s final release, and Deep Magic (both volumes) will be forward-compatible with the Project Black Flag rule system.

What about the Open part?

Project Black Flag will support Open RPG Content under the Open RPG Creative License, usable by anyone. Open Content will be released after playtests conclude.

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